SCIENCE: In talk , LA BioMed chief says medical work must also pay off for patients.

By Melissa Evans

STAFF WRITER

at CSU Dominguez Hills Research is great, but the public isn’t going to want to pay for it if cures and practical results aren’t kept at the forefront, the executive director of LA BioMed told a group of community leaders Friday.

“Frankly, Americans do not particularly care about the number of peer-reviewed articles a scientist has published,” said Ken Trevett, the keynote speaker at a luncheon at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Over the last several decades, researchers have been very successful in finding treatments for diabetes, cancer, AIDS/HIV and other diseases, Trevett said. But as money becomes more scarce, ethical issues surface, data becomes more complex and egos get out of control, structural reorganization of the scientific world is necessary so that “prospects for discovery are maximized,” he said.

Trevett, who manages one of the largest independent research organizations in the state, spoke as part of the Distinguished Speakers series organized by the university’s College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences, formed in 2004.

He drew chuckles from the audience of mostly professors, students and industry executives when describing what he sees as one of the most vexing problems in this field of science and research – genius run amok.

“It is no secret that a small number of our most accomplished scientists, ones who are having a very constructive impact on the human condition through their research, are also eccentric, undisciplined in their personal behavior, insensitive to colleagues and subordinates, and egocentric to the point of being dysfunctional in an organizational setting,” Trevett said.

Scientists and administrators need to display strong “humane values” to retain and promote their image in the public sphere, he said.

Strong ethics in the face of business interests also needs to be maintained, Trevett said. Scientists, along with administrators who run research organizations, need to structure their working environment around results for patients, he said.

“Pedestals are a poor substitute for character, and placing ourselves above others often leads to arrogance, and ultimately tragedy,” he said.

More collaboration, instead of competition, needs to take place between academics and scientists, Trevett said – important for better results, and also funding.

With an annual budget of $29 billion, the National Institutes of Health is one of the largest sources of cash for institutions like LA BioMed near Torrance. Political support for that money will remain strong if the research produces tangible results, he said.

At the same time, scientists and researchers need to weigh in on controversial ethical topics such as stem-cell research, where the dialogue is dominated by arguments rooted in religion, he said.

“The citizens of America have a right to determine science priorities, and it is our obligation, our ethical obligation, to vigorously assure that the priority-setting debate is thorough and factually based,” he said.

The luncheon, held once a semester, was sponsored by the Southern California Biomedical Council, Schools Federal Credit Union and the Center for Teaching and Learning at CSU Dominguez Hills.

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